The Incredible Hulk has been and probably always will be my favorite comic book character. He's the character that hooked me way back when watching the old Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television series in syndication in the mid 1980's. I started reading comic books because of the character and he maintains the majority of my comic book collection. As a result I am extremely critical of the Hulk's portrayals in both comic books, film, and television. Many have written him and many more will continue to write him. As they do they will either earn my praise or my ire.
The latest story line of Marvel Comics's Hulk has come to an end. Retitled INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK, the new book was a part of Marvel's 2012 relaunch of their titles under the new MARVEL NOW! banner (pun intended). The book was written in it's entirety (issues #1 through #20) by Mark Waid, veteran comic book writer and superstar, and penciled by various artists, most notably Leinil Yu and the legendary Walt Simonson.
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| Walt Simonson artwork |
After issue #20 the book was re-titled simply HULK and continued the story as if the book hadn't changed titles at all. Of course with a new title came new numbering despite being a direct continuation. So once again we have another issue #1. The opening story arc was also written by Mark Waid and afterwards changed hands to writer Gerry Duggan. This "new" Hulk book lasted for 16 issues, all of which were penciled by wonderful Marvel artist Mark Bagley. Also included in this volume was a four issue mini series titled ORIGINAL SIN: HULK VS IRON MAN tieing into the Marvel event ORIGINAL SIN, two of the issues written by Mark Waid and penciled by Mark Bagley. All said and done this saga spanned a total of 40 issues plus an Annual one-shot special.
THE PLOT
(Spoilers)
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| Leinil Yu artwork |
In the simplest of synopses each of the story arcs for the entire 20 issues of Indestructible Hulk revolved around Banner working for SHIELD inventing groundbreaking technology the likes of which would make Reed Richards and Tony Stark jealous, and Hulk being sent out on missions. The first story arc sees him going to the undersea kingdom of Lemuria and battling classic powerhouse villain ATTUMA. After that Banner and his team of scientists create a portal to the Jotunheim, the land of the Frost Giants. The gateway also transported them back in time where they meet a younger Thor. With Thor's help they get back to their own time.
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| Attuma triumphant |
Now begins the second half and the new volume. Who shot Bruce Banner? After the back of Bruce's head explodes he transforms into the Hulk, saving his life. As a result the wound heals around the bullets and bone fragments. Hulk goes on a rampage resulting in the Avengers being called in to stop him. But Hulk is too much for them, even the strength of Captain Marvel isn't enough. Then a long thought dead enemy of Hulk's crashes the party, the ABOMINATION! The Abomination fights with even greater strength and ferocity than he's had before, mopping the floor with the Hulk. The Avengers have to team-up with Hulk just to push the Abomination back. Then, once everyone is beaten to a pulp, the Abomination is teleported away by the same mysterious person or persons who just tried to kill Bruce.
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| The return of the Abomination! |
Iron Man offers to heal Bruce's mind, now that his brain is fried from the bullet. Tony takes Bruce to his secret city where they inject Bruce with a portion of the Extremis serum. Tony and his brother Arno Stark rebuild Bruce's brain and completely heal him. Bruce then tricks Arno Stark into giving him another dose of Extremis which transforms him into a new version of the Hulk, the OMEGA HULK. Hulk is now super smart and learns that Tony Stark could've prevented Bruce's accident that turned him into the Hulk in the first place. The two of them engage in an extensive game of cat and mouse while more and more secrets surrounding Bruce's original transformation come spilling out. In the end Hulk voluntarily stops his attack on Iron Man in pursuit of more pressing matters.
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| Cover for Hulk #6 by the great Hulk artist Gary Frank! |
Hulk, now calling himself DOC GREEN (because the Hulk was a name his enemies gave him, one he never liked), sets out with the remainder of his SHIELD scientist team to remove the Gamma threat from the face of the world. He goes after Rick Jones, The A-Bomb, and depowers him making him totally human once again. Next he goes after his son Skaar wiping the gamma from his body. Systematically Doc Green works his way down the line of gamma powered people and "de-hulking" them. When he comes to his ex-wife Betty Ross, the Red She-Hulk, he discovered it was she who shot him in the head and set the Abomination after him. Doc Green says he understands why she did it and doesn't blame her for it, but he still depowers her. Lastly he goes after his ex-father in-law, Red Hulk. After a hard won battle Red Hulk is depowered too. The only two Hulk's he leaves alone are Jen Walters, the She-Hulk, and his daughter Lyra. The story is then interrupted and subsequently ended by the Marvel event SECRET WARS by Jonathan Hickman.
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| Mark Bagley artwork |
THE GOOD
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| The Kiss. Hulk apparently made an impression with Lemurian warrior Mara |
The Hulk volume prior to this was a the INCREDIBLE HULK by writer Jason Aaron. It was atrocious. I thought nothing could be worse than Jeff Loeb's RED HULK book but I was wrong. In theory Jason Aaron's Hulk should've been great, but it completely disregarded the volume before it, repeated a story that had already been done several times before, and had a string of terrible artists. The space bears were cool though. Why is this good, you ask? Because Mark Waid completely ignores it.
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| Doc Green depowering A-Bomb |
He begins a very Bruce Banner centric story, which is rare. Waid explores Banner's intelligence and occupation as a scientist showing why the character is one of the smartest characters in the Marvel Universe. It's refreshing having the story being Banner driven instead of Hulk, another rare quality. Banner's whole drive is to create something beneficial for mankind instead of smashing everything. He sets a crazy goal about inventing something new every week or so (or something along those lines).
The art for the first story arc by Leinil Yu is fantastic. His Hulk is good and everyone else in the book looks great. Having the story lead Hulk to Lemuria and eventually confronting Attuma was a real treat too as Attuma and the ocean dwellers are some of my favorite characters. It's too bad Namor ~ The Sub-Mariner couldn't make a cameo. After that the book goes along a certain path that feels very experimental for the character.
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| Hulk vs Attuma |
After issue #20 of Indestructible Hulk, when the next volume starts, the first story arc of the second half kicks off with a bang! Bringing back Abomination in the hard hitting badass way that they did was amazing! I haven't been so excited for a Hulk book in a long time. The Original Sin tie-in was done very well and the rest of the book flows along a wonderful path. I've always hated the influx of Hulks, i.e. Red Hulk, Red She-Hulk, A-Bomb, Skaar, and so on (I actually kinda like Lyra though). Most writers can barely handle one Hulk rather than the half dozen Jeff Loeb gave us. So Doc Green going from one Hulk to the next and "de-hulking" them was wonderful. My hat's off to Gerry Duggan for delivering a wonderful last year of stories. His Omega Hulk story arc is easily the most entertaining of all 40 issues. Even so, my favorite story arc for the whole thing is when Abomination returns. Abomination is my favorite Hulk enemy and always will be.
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| Is Doc Green the Maestro?! |
Mark Bagley's art is fantastic from beginning to end, perhaps the most enjoyable artist on Hulk since Paul Pelletier (the best artist to draw Hulk since Gary Frank and Dale Keown in the 90's). His art has an impact to it during the fight scenes. This is going to sound weird to say but it doesn't feel static. That right there is the sign of a great artist. The Hulk vs Avengers vs The Abomination fight scene was easily the high light of all 40 issues. There's an old saying too, "every great artist on Hulk proves himself in a Hulk vs Abomination fight scene." Okay, that's not an actual saying but it's true.
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| Mark Bagley's Hulk vs Abomination |
THE BAD
Except for Leinil Yu, Mark Bagley, and Luke Ross (he did two issues of the Original Sin tie in mini series) all the other artists are pretty forgettable. I hate to admit it but a little over half of Mark Waid's stories are pretty forgettable too. I like what he tried to do but overall I think his experiment with a Banner driven book half failed. That may be due to Marvel forcing him to write stories that tied in with events like AGE OF ULTRON (ugg... blarg, what a terrible story) and INHUMANITY. The forgettable artists also contributed greatly in the experimental stories failing.
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| Hulk Agent of T.I.M.E. story arc and artwork. This was the Age of Ultron tie in story |
And then there's Secret Wars... cutting the comic short, barely giving Gerry Duggan enough time to finish what was easily the most enjoyable Hulk saga since Greg Pak's run. You could say that the story kind of continues in the Secret Wars tie in books that are Hulk centric but after having read both Secret Wars: Planet Hulk and Secret Wars: Future Imperfect I can say with certainty that the story ends with issue #16 of Gerry Duggan's Hulk run. It's a shame because Secret Wars isn't that great. Marvel has hurt so many books by forcing them to go along with major events like this. I'm all for continuity but the shear number of events (a massive crossover seems to happen every quarter) is ridiculous. My solution: stop making event books. Let the writers see their ideas through for a year without forcing them to write a story they have no interest in.
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| An example of the art quality in the latter half of the Indestructible Hulk |
Oh yeah, and what's with the stupid armor? Even a child can tell that Hulk doesn't need armor.
THE VERDICT
Greg Pak, despite my complaints about having read all his Hulk stories before written by either Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, or Al Milgrom, I do feel his Hulk was the last great Hulk saga, from Planet Hulk to Heart of the Monster minus all that Red Hulk crap (which I blame Jeff Loeb for entirely). That being said, this is easily the most enjoyable Hulk saga since. The Indestructible Hulk volume would ultimately be mediocre if it wasn't followed up by the "Who Shot Bruce Banner?" story which lead into the Omega Hulk arc. Those two stories elevate the Waid run and without them the Indestructible Hulk volume would easily vanish from memory. One of the best compliments I can give any book is simply, "I would keep buying it if the same creative team kept making it."
Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10
(the majority of Indestructible Hulk brings the rest down from what would be a 7 out of 10)
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| Art by Luke Ross |
Greg Pak is returning to the book when it relaunches in December of 2015. Sadly the book looks terrible with an even worse title "Totally Awesome Hulk." This looks totally "not" awesome, guys.
Want more Hulk? Check out the post linked below...
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